Slashdot videos: Now with more Slashdot!

View

Discuss

Share

We've improved Slashdot's video section; now you can view our video interviews, product close-ups and site visits with all the usual Slashdot options to comment, share, etc. No more walled garden! It's a work in progress -- we hope you'll check it out (Learn more about the recent updates).

An anonymous reader writes "Warner Music is pitching the idea of a 'music tax' for various top universities. The idea is that students would be free to file share, but the university needs to monitor and track everything, create a pool of money, hand it over to a recording industry entity that promises to distribute the proceeds fairly. In exchange, the university gets a 'covenant not to sue' from the music labels. It's not a full license, just a basic promise that they won't sue. It's also claimed that this is 'voluntary' but the Warner Music guy says that they need to include all universities and all ISPs to really make it work. It's basically a music tax, where the recording industry gets to sit back and collect money."

alphadogg writes "A federal judge in Seattle has ordered Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to testify in a class action lawsuit against Microsoft that alleges the company misled consumers in a marketing campaign for its Windows Vista operating system in which computers sold with an older Microsoft OS were labeled 'Vista Capable' when in fact they could only run a basic version of Vista. Ballmer has unique personal knowledge of facts surrounding the case, therefore he must face questioning, Judge Marsha Pechman of the US District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle ruled, according to court documents released late Friday."

bdauvergne (135215) writes "Hi, I'm trying to find simple OSS scanning software for multiple-choice form or quiz, but I can only find complex OCR software. If OSS programmer can write OCR software, maybe finding well placed black spot on a page should be simpler."

amigoro writes "Ever wonder why there are so few women in the IT workplace? It turns out that the typical recruiters sales pitch, which emphasizing job promotion and security, acts to keep women out of the information technology jobs. While about 30 percent indicated they valued careers that afforded them opportunities to perfect skills in technical areas, others said they wanted careers with managerial opportunities. In addition, there was little overlap among the women who reported that managers give up technical skills to develop management skills."

bob_dinosaur writes "According to The Register, Microsoft's Patent Attorney Jim Markwith told the Open Source Business Conference that the reason they hadn't named the supposedly infringing patents was that it would be 'administratively impossible to keep up' with the list. 'According to Ramji, the executive tasked with the difficult job of straddling Microsoft's growing support for open source in server and tools, and aggressive and unpredictable statements from management on patents, made a jaw dropping attempt to explain away the Forbes article. "The reason we disclosed that, is because there was a request for transparency following the Novell deal Iast November. This was a response to that transparency," Ramji said. It was at that point the OSBC audience erupted.'" That transparency apparently extends to multiple levels. ZDNet is reporting that Novell will share the details of its agreement with Microsoft sometime in the near future.

adickerson0 writes "Applied Materials, BP America, Intel Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Wal-Mart and Cardinal Health have joined together to start Dossia. This group plans to create a free (beer) system that allows hospitals and clinics across the country to digitize and share patient records. Furthermore they plan to integrate this with EMT Services, Labs, and Pharmacies.
One of the major voices in this movement is Lee Scott of Wal-Mart. Who in February announced the Better Health Care Together Coalition which involves Wal-Mart, AT&T, SEIU, CWA, Center for American Progress and the Howard Baker Center. All of which comes on the heels of the Wal-Mart $4 prescription drug plan and the opening of 76 in store health clinics (2000 planned in 5-7 years).
With the support of so many large groups and what seems to be a developing health care network to support Dossia, what can the Linux community and Slashdot do to support this initiative?
http://www.omnimedix.org/"